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Details on Silent Hill: Downpour

Latest issue of Game Informer offers inside look at the eighth game in the franchise.

The February issue of Game Informer is hitting mailboxes nationwide, and with it the first details on the game formerly known as Silent Hill 8. Expect plenty of scares and Heavy Rain-like weather in Silent Hill: Downpour.

When the air horn sounded in Silent Hill, you knew things were going to get terrifying quick. This time around, Game Informer informs (zing!), malevolent water will usher players into the Otherworld.

As an example of how the water mechanic will be utilized, Game Informer describes an early sequence in a diner. When the restaurant's sprinkler system unexpectedly goes off, the entire greasy spoon collapses into the franchise's iconic horror landscape.

The magazine also shares a handful of other Silent Hill: Downpour tidbits, including: an emphasis on fleeing enemies as much or more so than combat; a limited inventory system (one weapon at a time) and beefed up enemies that make flight a wiser option than fight; new Silent Hill locations; and a massive game world that requires use of the town's sure-to-be-spooky subway system.

Silent Hill: Downpour is being developed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 by Czech studio Vatra Games (Rush 'N Attack Ex Patriot). The game is expected sometime in 2011.

Sharkey says: The original Silent Hill game scared the pants off of me. Demon babies from the nursery in the Otherworld hospital + using a fire axe for a weapon = deeply disturbing survival horror. Vatra promises it's returning to the elements that made the original games so scary. Part of me hopes they don't.